Applying to every single omfs program in the country

[Prehealthwhatever]

Does this do more harm than good? I'm sure it would be a red flag if you told a program director, but what's the harm in doing this besides finances?

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[SirBrotherJam]

Only guarantee is that you will be poorer. If you are competitive, I would say apply smart. Otherwise it's a literal waste of money.

 

[nade0016]

Does this do more harm than good? I'm sure it would be a red flag if you told a program director, but what's the harm in doing this besides finances?

oof, a lot to unpack here. So you are so unfamiliar with OMS training programs and so don't care about where you get in that you want to apply to all programs? This will lead to getting in nowhere.

My reccs: Extern at a couple very different programs (4 vs. 6, hospital vs. SoD) to get a good flavor of what the different programs are out there. Then decide 4 versus 6 and apply to as many as you are comfortable with. Beyond that, it is a waste of money.

 

[Prehealthwhatever]

oof, a lot to unpack here. So you are so unfamiliar with OMS training programs and so don't care about where you get in that you want to apply to all programs? This will lead to getting in nowhere.

My reccs: Extern at a couple very different programs (4 vs. 6, hospital vs. SoD) to get a good flavor of what the different programs are out there. Then decide 4 versus 6 and apply to as many as you are comfortable with. Beyond that, it is a waste of money.

The situation I thought this idea would benefit from would be someone who isn’t competitive and doesn’t have a choice to pick and choose program that they have interests in. Would that make any difference?

 

[Captain Underplants]

I don't think it does more harm than good, no-one know show many programs you apply to; and although schools aren't supposed to ask some do. At that point it's your choice to be as truthful as you like; you can say every single one, or over 30, or only yours.

Personally I applied to every single 4 year program that I was eligible for, not because I wasn't a strong applicant; but in my case I was a foreign trained dentist who did the two year accreditation program. So although I am technically a US licensed dentist many programs still didn't like that and some outright rejected me and told me they only consider applicants with 4 years of dental school.

Was it expensive, sure? But not nearly as expensive as losing a year of your career production as an OMS.

 

[OMSDoc]

I used to work in a training program, managed the interviews, set up the rankings, etc.

A standard question I would ask was: “Where else have you applied?“

I would never have considered ranking anyone who had applied to every program in the country.

If the concern is that you are not credentialed enough, make yourself more credentialed. Work in general dentistry for a while, do a GPR, etc.

Nade0016 is a valuable resource here.

 

[OrphanageCaretaker]

Smarter to apply to half of those programs knowing which ones have programs you are interested in, eg: more path, more OR time, more dentoalveolar etc etc.

Some schools have hard cut off's for gpa/cbse, so you can apply to eg: 30 six-year programs without meeting the cutoff requirements and you've wasted thousands applying.

Do some research prior.

 

[Prehealthwhatever]

Smarter to apply to half of those programs knowing which ones have programs you are interested in, eg: more path, more OR time, more dentoalveolar etc etc.

Some schools have hard cut off's for gpa/cbse, so you can apply to eg: 30 six-year programs without meeting the cutoff requirements and you've wasted thousands applying.

Do some research prior.

How do I find this info 🙁

 

[mada97]

Smarter to apply to half of those programs knowing which ones have programs you are interested in, eg: more path, more OR time, more dentoalveolar etc etc.

Some schools have hard cut off's for gpa/cbse, so you can apply to eg: 30 six-year programs without meeting the cutoff requirements and you've wasted thousands applying.

Do some research prior.

I'm also interested in how to find this out before applying. Is it mainly through word of mouth? The only thing that I can really find online that has any cutoff is regarding externships, like in what % your class ranking is (but nothing for CBSE, etc). Not on their PASS program profile or websites.